(Pat Buchanan) – The culture war against
Christianity is picking up speed. Last week came word Saint Louis University
will remove a heroic-sized statue of Fr. Pierre-Jean De Smet S.J. from the
front of Fusz Hall, where it has stood for 60 years. The statue depicts Fr. De
Smet holding aloft a crucifix as he ministers to two American Indians, one of
whom is kneeling.
Historically, the statue is accurate. Fr. De
Smet, “Blackrobe,” as he was known, was a 19th-century missionary to Indian
tribes who converted thousands. A friend of Sitting Bull, he spent his last
years in St. Louis.
And as the mission of this Jesuit university
is, presumably, to instruct the Catholic young in their faith and send them out
into the world to bring the good news of Jesus Christ as Lord and savior to
nonbelievers, what exactly is the problem here?
According to SLU Assistant Vice President for
Communications Clayton Berry, “some faculty and staff … raised questions about
whether the sculpture is culturally sensitive.”
Senior Ryan McKinley is more specific: “The
statue of De Smet depicts a history of colonialism, imperialism, racism and of
Christian and white supremacy.”
But if the founder of Christianity is the Son
of God, then Christianity is a superior religion. What Ryan and those faculty
and staff seem to be ashamed of, uncomfortable with, or unable to defend, is
the truth for which Saint Louis University was supposed to stand.
But simply because they are cowardly, or
politically correct, why should that statue be going into the SLU art museum?
Why should not they themselves depart for another institution where their
sensitivities will not be assaulted by artistic expressions of religious
truths?
The message the SLU president should have
given the dissenters is simple: We are a Catholic university that welcomes
students and faculty not of the faith. But if you find our identity
objectionable, then go somewhere else. We are not changing who we are.
Yet another missionary to the Indians is now
becoming a figure of controversy. On his September visit to Washington, D.C.,
Pope Francis plans to canonize Fr. Junipero Serra, the Spanish Franciscan whom
John Paul II beatified in 1988, who converted thousands of Indians in
California in the 18th century, when it still belonged to Mexico. Fr. Serra
established nine missions up the coast, among them missions that would grow
into San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Barbara and San Francisco.
Not only is Fr. Serra’s name famous in
California, his statue has stood since 1931 in the U.S. Capitol in one of two
places set aside for the Golden State. The other statue representing California
is that of President Ronald Reagan, unveiled in 2009, which replaced a statue
of the preacher Thomas Starr King. With the pope coming here to canonize Fr. Serra,
the war drums have begun. It is said the priest accompanied Spanish soldiers
who brutalized the Indians, and Fr. Serra helped to eradicate their religion
and culture, replacing it with his own. Now a move is afoot to remove Fr.
Serra’s statue.
According to the Religion New Service, “State
Sen. Ricardo Lara, an openly gay Los Angeles Democrat, wants to replace a
bronze statue of Serra with a monument honoring Sally Ride, the nation’s first
female astronaut. Lara said Ride would become ‘the first member of the LGBT
community’ to be honored in Statuary Hall.”
Another drive is underway by feminists to
remove the visage of Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill and replace it with that
of a woman, preferably a minority woman. Jackson, it is said, was responsible
for the ethnic cleansing of the Cherokees in the Trail of Tears. Yet, Jackson,
slashed across the head by a British soldier in the last days of the Revolution
for refusing to polish his boots, was also arguably the greatest
soldier-statesman in American history. Gen. Jackson led the 1815 defense of New
Orleans against the British invasion force, and crushed the Indian marauders in
Florida, drove out the Spanish governor, and cleared the path for annexation.
Twice elected president, Jackson is, with Jefferson, a father of the Democratic
Party, and he and his protégés Sam Houston and James K. Polk virtually doubled
the size of the United States.
One Internet poll advanced four leading
candidates to replace Jackson: Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Wilma Mankiller
and Harriet Tubman. But when we look at who is currently on America’s currency
— George Washington on the $1 bill, Abe Lincoln on the $5, Hamilton on the $10,
Jackson on the $20, Ulysses S. Grant on the $50, Ben Franklin on the $100 — do
any of these women really compete in terms of historic achievement with what
those great men accomplished? Aren’t we carrying this affirmative action
business a bit too far? What all these arguments are at bottom all about,
however, is a deep divide among us over the question: Was the European
Christian conquest of America, given its flaws and failings, on balance, a
great and good thing. Or not?
http://buchanan.org/blog/cultural-cleansing-of-christian-males-16094
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Comments
I graduated from St. Louis University in
1965. It was a very conservative
university and required minors in Theology and Philosophy in addition to my
major in science and minor in English. My conservative roots came from there.
After I graduated, St. Louis University
became infiltrated with the same Marxists that infested all other universities.
I obviously do not support or recommend them now. It has been ruined.
We should not let these nut-bags change the
statues in our parks or pictures on our money. Be careful who you vote for.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody Ga Tea Party Leader
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